Our group move up and find four students getting pushed back by some zombies on the steps. I jump from above and takedown four while Hirano shoots another two with the nail gun. Saya, Rei, and Takashi all move in to attack but by the time they get there, the zombies are all handled.

“Is everyone okay?” I look at the new group I don’t know any of these people. Two girls one blue-haired one red with moderate builds and two guys one is armed with a man catcher likely belonging to a staff member.

“Uh yeah who, who are you?” The girl with red hair asks while blushing.

“Oh right, I’m Haru, I’m not a student here buy my girlfriend Saeko is though.” At the mention of Saeko, the guys stiffen up and so does the girl.

“Saeko? As in ice queen Saeko? The captain of the kendo club? You’re dating her?” She seems surprised like I just said something not possible.

“Yeah? We have been dating for nearly four years now. Anyways not very important. Have any of you been bitten?” They look at each other confused at my question.

“No why?” The main guy with the man-catcher says.

“If someone's bit they turn into one of those things.” Saya cuts in looking at them angrily.

“We have a plan to get out of here. Do you all wanna come with me? It’s the sports bus in the courtyard.” I point towards the entryway.

“YES! YES, PLEASE” a blue-haired girl who had seemed a bit shy until now yells out.

“Shhh, those things are attracted by sound. Calm down” I try to calm them a bit.

“Ah um alright” the blue-haired girl shrinks back down to her shy behavior much to the annoyance of their friends. Continuing on our way out we get to a staircase to the first story. We have looted a couple of rooms on the way briefly but there weren't many supplies. While looking over the side of the stairs a we can see a few undead below clogging the hallway. A few of the group are crouching while sneaking looks at the zombies down below.

“You know hiding is pointless since they detect from sound, not sight right?” Saya says making some of the new group members blush before standing up and rubbing their heads. I start walking away from the rest of the group and I signal them to stay still.

“Haru what…” I hear a harsh whisper above from Saya.

I hop down. My fall makes a slight noise but I’m quick to sidestep from my falling point. Where a couple of zombies are slowly making their way. I pick up a shoe off the ground. I line myself up with another undead and take careful aim. At the same time that I throw the shoe on the opposite side of the room, I stab one of the zombies in the eye. While most are drawn to the shoe hitting a locker a few come towards me from the sound of the body falling. I calmly move out of their way as they stumble around to investigate. I dispatch the ones to come towards me in a similar way clearing the path for the group.

“Good job but also what the hell were you thinking Haru!” Saya moves up to me annoyed.

Thankfully these put me over the next milestone for zombie kills.

Congratulations you completed the third side quest.

Reward: 3 stat points that will apply to your body from this world

Next chain quest: Kill 50 zombies

Hmm, the number doubled so it’s probably going to grow to be unreasonable very quickly but for right now it’s a great advantage. I place one in strength, endurance, and resilience. I’m curious if resilience stacks with my disease resistance and if I can survive a bite. But I’d rather not risk it for now.

Saya hits the top of my head. “Owww Haru I know you have a big head but why the hell is it made of stone?” She waves her hand like it's hurt. I was well-toned and muscular before now 10% stronger applied to three major body attributes hardened it further.

“I mean I work out with Saeko?” Trying to pass off the causal inhuman strength.

“Can I feel?” The redhead we saved asks. Moving eyebrows much to one of the other guys in their group's displeasure.

“Nope, still dating Saeko,” I comment while leading the way forward. The guy seems to relax a bit as she pouts.

We quietly make our way towards some of the buildings searching for other students. We find a couple before Saeko catches up with us on our way to the bus.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

While we are moving our way to the bus methodically. One of the people we rescued doubles over in pain.

“Takagi? Takagi are you okay?” A girl next to him tries to help him up. His eyes start to go wild as he begins to froth blood from the mouth.

“Goddamit, he was bitten!” I try to move upon him but I’m just a bit too late.

“He was what? No! SEE TAKAGI IS FINE!” the girl vehemently denies anything wrong with the guy with her. That’s when he bites into the worried girls’ neck as she screams. Alerting the whole courtyard to our position. Shit… Well, at least this will contribute to the stat points.

“HEY HEY OVER HERE! GUYS MAKE YOUR WAY TO THE BUS DODGE THEM! I’LL BE A DISTRACTION!” I start whooping and drawing the zombies away from the group. Running to the side.

Ten twenty-thirty of the bastards start making their way towards me from all sides. There are far too many of them for me to clear it by myself especially with a bokken as my only weapon. Thankfully, they are slow enough that I should be able to kite them around.

Saeko is clearing the path for the other students her new blade cleanly cutting each foe in her way. The only sound the group makes as they rush past is the sounds of muffled cries and bodies falling. These are drowned out by the sounds of my yells and much louder thwacks of wood on skulls.

“GAH TAKE THIS!” I keep moving constantly, luring them in with a shout then moving to get behind them. They aren't very smart and even attack each other briefly if they accidentally run into something they think made a sound. I’m quickly running out of stamina though. Looking up I see that Shizuka is seated in the bus and is getting it running so I shouldn’t have to stall for much longer.

That’s when I hear others shouting for the bus to wait for them. I turn and see a medium-sized group of students and that weasel man. I... I honestly forgot his name the one that tried to hold back Rei is running towards the bus too. They are making a bunch of noise after I carefully pulled the drew all of the zombies away from it. THESE DUMBASSES ARE GOING TO PUT EVERYONE IN DANGER!

I watch as one of the kid's trips and falls and sprains his ankle. Grabbing onto the weasel only to be kicked in the face brutally. I keep luring all the zombies away from the bus and the kids scream help drawing the zombies away from the bus more. Once everyone else is on the bus I see an argument start on it. As The weasel is trying to close the fucking door before I get there! With the other student drawing more attention with his screams I’m able to get enough breathing room to maneuver back towards the bus. I run over quickly and slam it open again and get inside.

“OH! If it isn't Mr.Ikami, you made it, that’s… good I didn’t think you would.” The weasel of a man stares down at me with his short hair, golden eyes, and glasses with a wide smug grin plastered on his face. “I was merely making sure the door stayed closed until you got here in time. Don’t worry I fully intended to open it for you.” His grin deepens as he looks around to make sure everyone saw he was doing something good. Yeah, right the asshole probably was just trying to leave me behind.

“Take off now Shizuka!” I say out loud as I glare at the weasel in front of me.

I brace myself as Shizuka begins muttering to herself. “They aren’t humans anymore they aren’t alive anymore” she begins running over zombies on the way to the school gates. Luckily it seems like securing the keys and helping protect the bus is giving me credit for the kills of the bus. After breaking through the gate, we finally have a bit of breathing room.

My little heroism stunt does get me hit in the head by Saya and Saeko this time too which hurts worse since she isn't hesitant to use her old bokken. Auntie also gives me a long glare and speaks her mind.

“You Idiot what were you thinking luring them away like that!” Saya yells in my face as she checks me over for wounds.

“You could have been killed!” Auntie seems stressed and worried.

“You’ll hear more about that stunt you pulled later.” The one that scares me the most though is Saeko. This isn't the end of it and I think I have an idea of what my punishment would be. Then again, she keeps looking down at the blade with a slight smile so I might be off the hook for now.

“Meh, I’m fine now. Besides, you guys needed a distraction while you got the bus ready. If those idiots hadn’t started yelling to wait for them while running towards the bus, I would have joined back with you sooner.” I point to the weasel and his group. Who over dramatically recoils as if struck by a weapon.

“Speaking of which thank you Mr.Ikami for drawing them away and you my lovely Shizuka for preparing the bus for our escape. If it wasn’t for your noble near-sacrifice, I would have never have been able to save all these students!” He starts gesturing to all the students in the back as if he was responsible for saving them all.

“So, I take it you’re the leader then Miss Busujima? Or is it you Miss Shizuka?” He tries to butter up to them looking at both with a brief smile and touching their shoulders much to their discomfort. Strange he never points out Auntie though or me. Likely doesn’t want to ask people that are actually potentially the leader.

“No no uh that’s um oh gosh his naaaaaame iiiiiis HARU, yes! Haru has been calling most of the choices, so if anyone is the leader it's him.” Shizuka struggled to remember my name which kind of hurts. She also seemed way too excited when she remembered it. But she also called me the group leader which is kind of nice.

No one else really denies it even Saya just points her nose up at the idea of me being a leader rather than denying it.

“Ohh that just won’t do a child shouldn’t have to bear such responsibilities. A leader needs to bear all the choices for the group with valor with… confidence.” He flourishes around with his hands while pushing up his glasses.

Rei is glaring at the weasel man.

“So Mr.Weasel you think you’re a better leader then?” I get up in his face. He's a bit tall but while he's lean I have bulk from hours spent training with Saeko every day. He seems confident at first but there's the slight look of discomfort when I get into his personal space.

“Why I never said such a thing! I don’t think it would be inappropriate to say I am the most qualified one here. After all, I am a humble teacher and only want to take the burden of leadership from you, so you don’t have to suffer the moral dilemma when things go wrong. I also have a lot of experience with group management I ran the track team after all. You have done a remarkable job until now though, so you get an A for effort. But it would be best if you let the real adults take over now.” He smiles at me with a shit-eating grin. Looking behind him I see a few of the people he brought alongside him nodding in agreement. Even some of the people we brought are looking deep in thought. This is going to be annoying…